.jpg) Comet B–M–K photographed byPaolo Maffei from Italy on 25 July 1955.[1] | |
| Discovery[3][4] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | |
| Discovery site | Stalinabad, Tajik SSR Seattle, USA |
| Discovery date | 13–14 July 1955 |
| Designations | |
| 1955 IV, 1955f[5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[6] | |
| Epoch | 16 August 1955 (JD 2435335.5) |
| Observation arc | 132 days |
| Number of observations | 28 |
| Aphelion | ~500 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.427 AU |
| Semi-major axis | ~250 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.99425 |
| Orbital period | ~3,900 years |
| Inclination | 50.034° |
| 303.47° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 13.216° |
| Mean anomaly | 0.009° |
| Last perihelion | 11 July 1955 |
| TJupiter | 0.879 |
| EarthMOID | 0.426 AU |
| JupiterMOID | 3.195 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| (B–V) =0.4±0.1[8] (U–B) = –0.52[9] | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 4.79 |
| 7.8[7] (1955 apparition) | |
Comet Bakharev–Macfarlane–Krienke, formally designated asC/1955 N1, is anon-periodic comet that was observed from July to November 1955. It was discovered independently by three astronomers,Anatoly M. Bakharev,Lewis Macfarlane andOra “Karl” Krienke, Jr.
The comet was already on its outbound trajectory when it was first discovered byAnatoly M. Bakharev on the night of 13 July 1955.[3] It was independently discovered byLewis Macfarlane andOra "Karl" Krienke, Jr about 17 hours later on 14 July 1955, where they immediately found out that their comet is the same object as Bakharev's earlier find.[4] At the time, the comet was an 8th-magnitude object within the constellationPegasus.[a]
Between 17 and 22 July 1955,Kenneth M. Yoss made the first spectroscopic observations of the comet using the 24–36 inchSchmidt telescope at theUniversity of Michigan, where he measured the gas emissions within itscoma and compared it with that of24P/Schaumasse,C/1953 T1 (Abell), andC/1955 L1 (Mrkos).[10]Eric Mervyn Lindsay captured 14 photographic plates of the comet between 15 July and 12 August 1955.[11] Photoelectric observations were also conducted at theMount Wilson Observatory between 28 July and 2 August 1955, obtaining its color indices.[9]
The comet was last seen on 25 November 1955 byElizabeth Roemer as a 17th-magnitude object within the constellationCepheus.[b] She andHamilton Jeffers later attempted to find the comet between February and March 1956 but they failed to locate it.[7]
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